King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard Talk New Album, Massive Tour Schedule, & Bandmate Competition

Melbourne septet King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard has got to be one of Australia’s hardest working bands.

With the release of their second album for 2013 Float Along/ Fill Your Lungs due out later this month, Stu McKenzie managed to set aside some time on a lazy Wednesday morning to chat with a sort of mystery musical endurance.

McKenzie is the man behind King Gizzard’s ambient, scuzzy vocals, and most probably a few of the instruments you will hear in the new record.

Float Along/Fill Your Lungs saw the band experimenting with different instrumentation and interchanging line-ups between various recording takes, McKenzie elaborating that King Gizzard is “all very collaborative in a way, people can just do anything.”

“Throughout the album people are playing different instruments than they would live. If someone has an idea for the keyboard in a song, even if they have a more general idea for a song, they just do it.”

It’s definitely possible to hear this ‘music as a shared collective’ philosophy laced throughout the record, McKenzie explaining that Float Along/ Fill Your Lungs “is kind of more contemplative and chilled, and maybe in that sense it’s quite a content record which is interesting to think back on.”

The recording process “was quite a positive and happy time in everyone’s lives; I think it’s a very positive record in a lot of ways. Compared to a lot of other stuff we’ve done it’s not as punky, it’s less aggressive.”

This is especially true when you look back on their earlier projects and consider the juxtaposition between their initial, fazed garage rock and the transformative, intelligent psychedelic madness that is Float Along/ Fill Your Lungs.

On the discussion of changed influences, McKenzie suggests that perhaps instead of a 360 reversal, they may have just picked up some new ones along the way.

“A lot of it is just us getting better at recording and song writing. We are definitely recording more and more of everything ourselves, and doing it ourselves as much as possible, so that’s definitely where we’ve most developed.

“My favourite thing in music is just to make records. I’d love to just be able to make records forever. To be able to do just that would be cool. That’s kind of a goal of mine, to keep doing that.”

The band called Paul Maybury in for a squiz as they did with their first EP Willoughby’s Beach, and good mate Jarrod Brown came in for a bit of recording, but “the bulk of the recording and production we did ourselves, and that’s something I think we’ll continue. A lot more from this point on will be self-produced, because it’s fun and exciting, it’s another creative element.”

Making records is something King Gizzard has certainly done a lot of recently, along with a few album preview shows and a massive day at Brisbane’s BIGSOUND. On being asked whether McKenzie is conscious of the huge amount of work the band has done musically in such a short amount of time, he replies with an unfazed laugh “yeah, I think so.”

“I don’t know, I’ve got semi A.D.D when it comes to doing stuff, I don’t really like to stop. If I stop doing things I get sad. So that’s kind of half the reason we do so much because I don’t like sitting still.”

“I don’t know, I’ve got semi A.D.D when it comes to doing stuff, I don’t really like to stop. If I stop doing things I get sad. “

It would seem from an outsiders’ perspective that Float Along/ Fill Your Lungs happened in a whirlwind only moments ago, but the process for the boys of King Gizzard is something a little different.

“It was definitely a long process for us, I feel like we kind of finished recording this album so long ago now, it feels old for us.”

It might seem that if this is the case, playing early hits at live shows would be a real drag, but McKenzie explains that “we don’t really play that many older songs any more. We try to play as much newer stuff as possible.” He adds with a laugh, “I think we’re probably a bit too selfish to do that, we’d probably just rather play whatever we want.”

Playing whatever they want is definitely a standard they stick by, McKenzie stating that they play music “first and foremost because we think it’s fun.”

“We kind of like to challenge ourselves but at the same time it’s not superbly inward music, and not super personal introverted music either. It’s kind of pretty outward, fun, happy music really so it’s not just completely for ourselves.”

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are renowned for their crazy live performances, but McKenzie obviously has a high standard for craze, stating that “nothing ever out of control has happened at one of our shows, nobody’s ever overdoes on heroine or been shot down by bikies.”

“We’re all pretty chill guys, we definitely have our fair share of messing around, but there’s no Led Zeppelin-esque partying going on.”

Having said that, King Gizzard are still knee deep in the Australian music scene. When asked about his opinion on the music currently coming out of Australia, McKenzie describes his view on it passionately.

“It’s awesome. There’s so much great Australian music going on right now, it’s really nice to be a part of it all. It’s very lively, especially living in Melbourne as there’s a lot going on down here. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Melbourne.”

“I definitely don’t feel successful or anything, we’re still just kind of making records in garages and we’re still not making any money or anything.”

From his first live music experience as being a ten year old coastal hippy, running around at Falls Festival to a definite national success, McKenzie describes his surprise at their ‘success’ with almost denial to the fact.

“I definitely don’t feel successful or anything, we’re still just kind of making records in garages and we’re still not making any money or anything. It’s nice though that people we don’t know that aren’t our mums are coming to our gigs and stuff, that’s pretty cool.”

“I think we spur each other on more than anything. I think there’s a bit of natural competition within the group, we just have heaps of fun with it. We’re all kind of learning stuff along the way too.”

The first taste of Float Along/ Fill Your Lungs is ‘Head On/Pill,’ a 16 minute ode to excellence, and quite a full on beginning to their second effort. When the choice of such a lengthy song at the very beginning of an album was questioned, McKenzie quickly silenced all doubts with a casual ease.

“It’s kind of our favourite song on the album, and I suppose you can put it at the end, that’s the obvious place. It’s definitely a weird mood, but whatever. I think it kind of elevates the rest of the album.”

And as McKenzie wisely says, “everyone thinks of things differently, and not everyone is going to like your music. It’s just not possible. But it’s just one of those things I suppose.”

It may be just one of those things, but it’s a thing that the boys of King Gizzard undoubtedly won’t have to worry about. Float Along/Fill Your Lungs is a magnificent effort, definitely the boys at the top of their game.

Float Along – Fill Your Lungs is out now via Flightless / Dot Dash

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